The Huldra Hostility

by Michael Almich

  Shy took a breath and proceeded to tell them of his plans. He told them everything, including Tom T’s repeated warnings. He told them how he had been gathering supplies for his rescue of Gust. How he still needed to find a way to return the box. He also told them of his discovery of the Lesidhe, and how he thought that maybe they would be an option; that they may be the only hope if he wasn’t able to return the box.

  Finally, Ralph spoke up. He asked Shy for his permission to read through The Faerie. He thought it would be good for more of them to know about all these fairy creatures, about what they may run into on the rescue mission.

  Shy thought about it and agreed. He had already let Claire read it, and who knew how many girls she had blabbed it to. It would be good to share this burden with all of them.

  As the afternoon passed, they made their plans. Eventually they began to get hungry and decided they needed to head down to supper, but before they could begin to shimmy down the rope from the high cabin, Shy stopped them.

  “Do we tell Tad? Do we let him in on our plans? And what about Eddie?”

  “No way we are including that rat!” Henry blurted out to murmurs of agreement from the others.

  “I think Henry is right,” Daniel said. “I think Eddie is too risky, he will tell Morrie. Then Clancy will know and shut us down. I’m not sure about Tad. He was pretty close to Gust… I think maybe we could trust him. Besides, he was talking about rescue and ransom our first night this summer… remember? In the Hive? Whatever happened to that? Shy, has he said anymore about that? He was going to talk to Meg about it…”

  “Hasn’t said anything to me about it. He probably got distracted by her red hair. He has been making moon eyes at her lately…” Shy said.

  He had edged to the exit to the Eagle cabin. It was just a simple rope, but they were so high in the forest that it was daunting. As he peeked over the edge and steeled himself to swing out over the openness, he told the other boys one final aspect of his plan.

  “I am going to find the fossegrimen again… I need to get some answers.”

  As he said the last, he swung out on the rope and began to half slide, half panic his way to the bottom. He didn’t wait for the other boys because he wasn’t sure they would agree about the fossegrimen. There was a risk if you couldn’t answer his riddle. Plus, when the creature provided answers, one needed to be able to look at them in the correct light, and untwist his twisted meanings to get anything out of them. He was the one who had launched the boys on their initial treasure hunt last summer, and the reason they were in the situation they were in now. He was a trickster no doubt, but Shy had an idea of how to get what he wanted. It involved food, and thinking about it made him hungry.

  The other boys were now working their way down the rope from the Eagle cabin. Shy didn’t wait. He hurried off to the Hive so he could take the zip line.

  ***

  Eddie and Tad were in the Hive, talking, when he arrived. As they looked up at him, Shy mumbled the word hungry, and moved right to the zip line. He launched himself into flight as the other six boys began to jump into the Hive.

  After exiting the Eagle, they had evidently hung back to talk as a group about Shy’s surprise proposition of finding the fossegrimen again. Shy didn’t care. They could talk all they wanted, he thought as he flew through the trees. He was going, whether they liked it or not.

  When he landed, a thought occurred to him, and he stood to the side and waited. Soon his vision popped and one of the beautiful sylphon appeared floating towards the bar he had grasped on his way down the zip line. The pixie-like creature was slender and graceful. Its lithe limbs moved in a languid, dreamy way; slowly and in cadence with the beat of its butterfly-like wings. Shy’s thoughts slowed as he watched. Its face was smooth and beautiful as a young girl, but its eyes held the depth of centuries when they locked on Shy. Suddenly, he remembered the strength of these deceptive creatures. They had carried him and Portia with no effort last summer, when they rescued him from the huldra. The thought brought him back to his purpose. He stepped forward.

  “Have you heard of the Lesidhe?”

  The sylphon paused while picking up the bar. It cocked its head to the side, as if to say, who hasn’t?

  “Can you tell me how to find them?”

  At this question, the creature’s fine features became distorted as a look of alarm passed across its countenance. It grabbed the bar and flew off up the hillside, finally disappearing into the pines.

  Now Shy could hear the zip line announcing the impending arrival of one of his friends. The line began to bounce gently.

  Shy slipped off quickly down the path towards the Lodge, and thought about the reaction of the sylphon.

  ***

  When Shy walked into the Lodge, he first walked up by the kitchen to see if he could get a glimpse of what was for supper. His stomach rumbled as he took in the bubbling, round, wheels of cheese that were steaming on the counter in front of him. Sauce was sneaking out onto the crust, and hints of pepperoni and sausage were buried under the steaming cheese. He hadn’t had pizza for weeks and weeks! His stomach rumbled again and he was tempted to take a piece.

  “You need to wait for everyone else!” The voice boomed from behind him.

  The small hairs that had grown on the back of Shy’s neck since his last haircut, stood straight up. He turned slowly although he already knew who he would see. It was Morrie, pony-tail and all. What Shy didn’t expect was Clancy standing at his side. The stern camp director had a slack look on her face and was staring ahead into space, vacantly.

  Shy heard some laughter and giggling approaching the building from the outside. He moved cautiously, turning as he went, so as to remain facing Morrie. He worked his way towards the door, giving the professor a wide birth. Morrie turned only his head, not his body. Those cold black eyes bored into Shy. He made it to the door, but before he turned to go, he sneaked one last glance at Clancy. She was still standing facing the kitchen, with no expression on her face.

  Worried and nervous Shy stepped through the door quickly and ran right into Claire.

  “Shylock! Watch where you are going!” She scolded.

  Shy immediately blocked out the scolding tone. It had become a habit to do so. He realized that Claire wasn’t much taller than him anymore. He wondered when that had happened.

  Following Claire in, pushing right past him, was Kennedi, a dark-haired girl called Lenore, the two A’s: Anna and Arya, Emma, and finally long and lithe Portia. She had a blond curl hanging alone over her right eye. Shy found that he was smiling.

  She put her arm around him and pulled him back into the Lodge. He looked for Morrie and Clancy as she did. Morrie was nowhere to be found, but Clancy was fussing about the pizza, cutting slices. He watched her as dark-haired Lenore glided up and asked the camp director a question. Clancy seemed back to her normal self. Her eyes were no longer glazed over, and she spoke briskly.

  Shy sat at the Lake cabin table for a bit, next to Portia. The girls all smiled at him as he sat. Quickly, and thankfully for Shy, Claire began arguing with Penelope over some statement of fact. The girls focused their attention on the two loud ones and their bickering. Portia turned also, but under the table she grasped Shy’s hand. He let her.

  Soon his buddies walked in, loud and boisterous. They were more quietly followed by Eddie and Tad. The Cave and Shore cabin campers began to also file in.

  Henry stopped and held his arms wide open as he spied Shy.

  “Shy! Really?” He questioned loudly with a smile.

  Shy smiled back, red creeping into his face.

  “I gotta go.” He said to Portia. Uncharacteristically, he squeezed her hand before letting it go. She smiled an enormous, dazzling smile, and he realized that she had really white teeth. He smiled back. Then he saw that the other girls had stopped their bickering and refocused on him. They were quiet, and every one of them was also smiling. He felt a second wave of red climbing up into his face. He quickly turne
d and walked over to the guys who were now sitting at their places.

  Eddie reached the table, just as Shy did. He gave Shy a slight nod, which surprised Shy immensely. It was the first acknowledgement or greeting really that the boy had given over the course of their first few weeks at camp. Maybe he was warming up, Shy thought.

  The boys could all smell the pizza, and were anxious to dig in, Shy could tell. However, Clancy moved in front of the pizza and held up her hands, like she had an announcement.

  She raised her megaphone, and the campers automatically covered their ears. It squealed as she began to speak.

  Shy caught Daniel looking at him. He could almost see what his buddy was thinking. He was sure Daniel was going to try to talk him out of visiting the Fossegrimen. Shy really wanted to try to avoid that conversation, so he looked back at Clancy.

  “… as it is almost the Fourth of July…”

  Shy wondered at how fast time flew here at camp. How could it almost be the Fourth already?

  “… traditional BBQ feast…”

  He decided that trying to acquire the supplies for the rescue had taken up more of his time than he thought. He had been sneaking away quite a bit, now that he thought about it. It’s no wonder the guys noticed.

  “… will each be required to put on a skit that utilizes each one of the camp games…”

  If they were going to be out late the night of the Fourth, it might be the perfect time to sneak down to find the fossegrimen, Shy thought.

  Clancy put down her megaphone, and Shy noticed the boys were scowling and glaring at each other, but they were quiet in an attempt to get chosen to go up and get pizza first.

  As per the usual, Morrie picked their table last. As they got up and stood in line, Shy overheard Henry and Finn griping to each other.

  Daniel moved up next to Shy. Shy tried to pre-empt the fossegrimen conversation by asking Daniel what the guys were so grumpy about.

  “Didn’t you listen to Clancy?” Daniel answered.

  “Sorta… Well, not really.” Shy shrugged.

  “We hafta do a skit at the BBQ on the Fourth.”

  “A skit?” Shy questioned.

  “Yeah, you know, like acting out a scene in a play.”

  “That’s easy,” Shy said, “we just re-enact Henry getting spanked by that trout!”

  Daniel smiled.

  “We need to talk,” he said.

  “About what,” Shy asked innocently.

  Daniel just looked at him flatly.

  They had now reached the pizza. Shy took a plate and grabbed several slices.

  “You know about what,” Daniel said. “About visiting the…”

  He paused when Shy stomped on his foot. Shy nodded in the direction of Morrie, who was lounging against a nearby smooth pine post.

  “What is his deal?” Daniel muttered under his breath. “Well, anyway we need to talk and plan this beforehand,” Shy’s friend continued as they grabbed their drinks and headed back to their table.

  “OK. Later tonight.” Shy said as they walked. He was surprised and happy to hear that Daniel wasn’t saying it shouldn’t happen. It almost sounded like he was going to go along with Shy’s plan.

  ***

  Later, they sat in a pair of beanbags in the Hive, looking out into the night forest through the screens. The heat of the day had been replaced by a light breeze coming from the direction of the big lake. The other boys were arranged in an inconspicuous semi-circle around Shy and Daniel. Tad was lounging reading a book. Eddie was alone on the other side of the Hive. He had made several attempts to get closer, but one of the other boys always stepped up to prevent him.

  He was now in a hammock, throwing a small ball up into the air and catching it. Again and again. Shy felt sorry for him, but then Daniel began to talk.

  “OK, here’s the deal. I want at least two of us to go with you to see the fossegrimen. Me and Sam. Plus we need to decide when we are going to tell Tad. When do we give him the recipe? Should he come with too?”

  Daniel looked like he had even more questions, so Shy held up his hand.

  “I think I should go alone, and I know when I should do it.”

  Daniel was already shaking his head.

  “Hear me out,” Shy begged. “I could slip away when you guys do the skit… on the Fourth. If too many of us go, they will notice.”

  Daniel had stopped shaking his head.

  “That might be a good time to do this,” he said. “We could work it into the skit. But,” he looked up at Shy, “you are not going by yourself. We need at least two others so if that thing tries to trick you, it has to trick all three of us. I just think it will be safer. Besides, if it asks a riddle, like last summer, we need Sam. He got it last year, and that has spurred his interest in riddles. The kid studied any he could find all last school year.”

  Shy had forgotten about the riddle. He hadn’t known the answer, and out of the blue, Sam had solved it. Shy had been planning on bringing the fossegrimen a bunch of snacks… a veritable feast of snacks and human food. The fey all seemed to love such gifts. Now that he really thought about it, though, the fossegrimen only gave them information they wanted when they answered the riddle.

  “Maybe it would be good if a couple of us went,” Shy conceded.

  Daniel smiled.

  Shy continued, “I think we should wait to bring Tad in on the plan though. After we talk to the fossegrimen, if we even find him.”

  “I was kinda thinking the same,” Daniel said. “So, how are we going to rescue Gust?”

  Shy smiled at the obvious excitement in Daniel’s voice.

  “Well, Tom T said he is being held in the forest by the lake that I took the box from last summer. I remember that forest. it was a thick, tangled, dark-looking place. Dark, and creepy… I couldn’t even see into it real well. I know this seems weird, but it seems like the trees moved when I would look at it…”

  Daniel sat back and thought. Shy felt a chill thinking about the spooky forest. He shivered.

  “You said you have been gathering supplies… what have you gotten so far? We may need an axe, or a saw.”

  “I have rope, a flashlight, a squirt gun, bread, and a knife, and some other stuff… a chain... I don’t remember what else.” Shy answered.

  “A squirt gun?”

  “Yeah, remember, the Reds hate it. They run from it. It saved me at the Mall of America this spring.”

  Daniel nodded.

  “And the bread?”

  “The book, the one I am going to let Ralph read, it said that carrying bread in your pocket can give some protection from fairy magic.”

  Daniel raised his eyebrows.

  “Ooooo kaaaay,” he said. “I still think we need an axe or a saw.”

  “Eddie is doing the log chopping event… he puts his axe in our cabin each night.” Shy said.

  “Can you get it? Without him knowing?” Daniel asked.

  “Probably, but I will need to wait until that night to grab it. He uses it almost every day. He would notice it was gone.”

  “So what if he does?”

  Shy looked at his friend. Daniel stared back.

  “What did he ever do to you? Why do you guys hate him so much?” Shy asked.

  Daniel started to speak several times, then took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair.

  Finally he spoke.

  “You know, I’m not really sure. He hasn’t been real friendly to us, and like I said before, he tells Morrie on us all the time.”

  “We never gave him a chance,” Shy whispered sadly, as he looked out into the forest through the screens. He looked back at Daniel and asked, “if you guys had known each other last summer, and had treated me like that, I probably would have acted the same way.”

  They both turned quiet as Henry began to get loud. He was telling a story about his grandpa, and was just getting to the funny part. The only problem was the boys had all heard it many, many times before.

  Shy and
Daniel didn’t pick up the conversation again. Instead, they both stared resolutely out into the forest to the north, through the screens of the Hive. Shy let his mind drift. He thought of his first encounter with the fossegrimen last summer. It had been at the bottom of the path to the waterfall. Shy had been running from some bullies. His ability to see through the Glamour of the creature had surprised the fossegrimen at first. After giving it a leftover snack from his pocket, the creature played its fiddle and had put Shy into a relaxed, dreamlike state. Eventually Shy had fallen asleep, and then been found by Gust.

  Shy glanced quickly at Daniel. He wondered what he was thinking. Gust had been involved in rescuing Daniel later in the summer last year. Daniel owed Gust too, but Shy didn’t think anyone had been as close to the old, wiry, white-haired man as he was. Maybe Tad… Tad had known him much longer, and he had rescued Tad once too. Last year, however, Gust certainly had picked Shy to show an interest in, right from the moment he had stepped off the bus last year. He felt like the grandpa that takes you out and teaches you how to fish, Shy thought. Shy’s grandparents had been older than most kids his age, and had all passed when he was real little. Maybe that was part of his connection to Gust.

  As Shy continued to reminisce, he turned away from Daniel to look out into the dark forest. There, far in the distance, two lights bobbed in and out of trees! Shy perked up. He squinted through the screen to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was. Daniel perked up too. He elbowed Shy.

  “You see those?”

  “Yeah, it’s just like the one I saw last summer… on that first night!”

  Daniel was getting excited now. He sat up on his knees and continued to peer out. The lights eventually just disappeared.

  “You think those were troll lanterns… carried by, you know, trolls? Like what Tad described… Like what got me last year?” He asked.

  “Could be. Could be some other type of fairy,” Shy tried to be calm, but he too was sitting up staring at where they had last seen the lights. “I never really mentioned it last year, but when I was being chased by Crutch, or whoever… just before I met the fossegrimen… they were just about to catch me, and a light appeared. It showed me the path to the waterfall… to the fossegrimen. I have thought about it for a year now. After reading that book of mine, I think it may have been a will-o’-the wisp. It saved me, whatever it was. Maybe these are the same thing.”